Heart

EXPLORE research in the MCRI Heart Regeneration Lab, led by Professor Enzo Porrello, harnesses the power of pluripotent stem cells to create human models of heart disease as a platform for therapeutic development.

This program of work seeks to unlock the regenerative potential of the newborn heart for cardiac repair in children and adults with heart failure. Three key questions will be addressed over the next 5 years:

• Can we harness the regenerative potential of the newborn heart to facilitate cardiac repair following injury (e.g. heart attack) or disease (e.g. cardiomyopathy)?
• Can we use our understanding of heart development to generate bioengineered heart tissues that more closely resemble native adult heart tissue?
• Can we turn these lessons from developmental biology into realistic therapies for children and adults with heart failure?

Answering these questions is central to the development of much needed regenerative therapies for heart failure.

This research underpins targeted projects investigating:

• Developing a bioengineered heart tissue patch
• Generating a stem cell-derived heart valve

EXPLORE research in the MCRI Heart Disease Lab, led by A/ Professor David Elliott, aims to develop new therapies for children with cardiotoxic heart damage and cardiomyopathies using stem cell technologies.

Researchers in the Heart Disease Lab can recreate both genetic and acquired heart disease in the laboratory using heart muscle cells produced from patient-specific stem cells. Using these laboratory-produced heart muscle cells and bioengineered miniature human hearts called cardiac organoids, the lab is trying to understand how childhood heart disease develops. Working out how muscle disease develops allows us to identify potential new treatments for heart disease. We also use this system to look for drugs that stop the damage that occurs during cardiotoxic chemotherapy. Importantly, because the lab is using a human system any new drugs we identify can quickly move toward the clinic as they have been shown to work in human heart muscle cells.

This research underpins targeted projects investigating:

• Investigating new drugs that improve heart function
• Protecting the heart from chemotherapy

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